A new report is opening the world’s eyes to how internet shutdowns can no longer be taken for granted, considering the huge negative impact they’re having on the world’s economy.
When it actually came down to the reasons why the internet was facing closure, well, the list was quite interesting. We had all sorts of answers including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine to moves that censor peaceful demonstrators too- there was a mixed bag of politics and more.
But the report outlined how protests and riots, no matter how peaceful they may be, end up causing the most damage as they’re the most prevalent call for the internet’s shutdown.
These findings for the year 2022 so far are from Top10VPN which took into account the great costs affiliated with internet closures after calls from government agencies. And that’s when the amount totaled up to an astounding figure of $10 billion.
To show you how massive of an estimate that is, well, it’s more than double the number of costs seen from the year 2021. Moreover, the fact that we are just halfway across 2022 and have a good 5 months to go, it’s definitely deeply concerning.
At $8.77 billion, the largest effect on the world’s economy, in general, was related to Russia’s behavior. The nation has suffered a number of blackouts from the media and is continuing till now.
The whole idea seems to be putting an end to peaceful demonstrations and the rights of the press by limiting access to various leading social network apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Meta’s Facebook.
The report was seen taking into account the world’s leading 16 nations where protests were common. Figures range from 100,000 in places like Pakistan while Russia was in millions.
There were some reports on how the internet was shut down in countries like Syria and Sudan by the government to prevent students from cheating on academic assessments. And if you think such internet closures that don’t involve violence would come cheap, well, you might need to take another look.
On average, they could be costing the global economy a whopping $6 million and we’re talking about a daily basis.
But what critics are worried about is how the report from previous years has been more or less incomplete and that means if that’s true for this year as well, the figures could well be missing out on more rising costs related to internet closure that was missed.
This particular report is believed to have highlighted the biggest reasons for internet closure which makes sense as there are plenty. Some smaller ones that we’ve seen arise in the past are those related to the economy and human rights.
Whatever the case may be, we are seeing a particular pattern arise. And that’s related to a further rise in loss of the economy if governments find it feasible to resort to internet shutdowns as a means to restrict online activity during stressful times.
Read next: A new study shows people are losing trust in the news media
When it actually came down to the reasons why the internet was facing closure, well, the list was quite interesting. We had all sorts of answers including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine to moves that censor peaceful demonstrators too- there was a mixed bag of politics and more.
But the report outlined how protests and riots, no matter how peaceful they may be, end up causing the most damage as they’re the most prevalent call for the internet’s shutdown.
These findings for the year 2022 so far are from Top10VPN which took into account the great costs affiliated with internet closures after calls from government agencies. And that’s when the amount totaled up to an astounding figure of $10 billion.
To show you how massive of an estimate that is, well, it’s more than double the number of costs seen from the year 2021. Moreover, the fact that we are just halfway across 2022 and have a good 5 months to go, it’s definitely deeply concerning.
At $8.77 billion, the largest effect on the world’s economy, in general, was related to Russia’s behavior. The nation has suffered a number of blackouts from the media and is continuing till now.
The whole idea seems to be putting an end to peaceful demonstrations and the rights of the press by limiting access to various leading social network apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Meta’s Facebook.
The report was seen taking into account the world’s leading 16 nations where protests were common. Figures range from 100,000 in places like Pakistan while Russia was in millions.
There were some reports on how the internet was shut down in countries like Syria and Sudan by the government to prevent students from cheating on academic assessments. And if you think such internet closures that don’t involve violence would come cheap, well, you might need to take another look.
On average, they could be costing the global economy a whopping $6 million and we’re talking about a daily basis.
But what critics are worried about is how the report from previous years has been more or less incomplete and that means if that’s true for this year as well, the figures could well be missing out on more rising costs related to internet closure that was missed.
This particular report is believed to have highlighted the biggest reasons for internet closure which makes sense as there are plenty. Some smaller ones that we’ve seen arise in the past are those related to the economy and human rights.
Whatever the case may be, we are seeing a particular pattern arise. And that’s related to a further rise in loss of the economy if governments find it feasible to resort to internet shutdowns as a means to restrict online activity during stressful times.
Read next: A new study shows people are losing trust in the news media
